Types of wind turbines

Horizontal-axis wind turbines (HAWT): Horizontal-axis wind turbines are the turbines in which the axis of the rotor’s rotation is parallel to the wind stream and the ground. Each of grid-connected commercial wind turbines today are built with a horizontal axis. HAWTs have the main rotor shaft and electrical generator at the top of a tower, which must be pointed into the wind. Small turbines uses simple wind vane, while large turbines usually use a wind sensor coupled with a servo motor.

Most of these turbines have a gearbox, which turns the slow rotation of the blades into a faster rotation that is more suitable to drive an electrical generator.

Vertical-axis wind turbines (VAWT)

VAWTs have the main rotor shaft set vertically. Main advantages of this arrangement are that the turbines need not to be pointed into the wind to be efficient. This is a big advantage on sites wherever the wind direction is highly variable. They are Omni-directional wind turbines which imply that it can instantly accept wind from any direction unlike

Horizontal Axis Wind Turbines (HAWTs)

which have to constantly rotate so that they are facing the wind. VAWT is near the ground, having all of the main components close to the ground, so the tower doesn’t need to support it and it is more accessible for maintenance.

Although VAWTS are a comparatively new technology however due to its lack of environmental invasiveness, their capability to be less visually obtrusive in residential areas and more friendly toward birds, VAWTS are becoming more popular.

What You Need to Know Before Starting

Wind power is one of the most accepted renewable energy sources. Wind power is fast becoming one of the best ways to use alternate energy, particularly in areas where wind is a practical source of power.

If you are interested in installing your own wind turbines, before buying wind turbine you need to know a number of very important things like how wind power works, and how you need to make it work for you.

How wind power works: Wind is no doubt one of the best sources of energy on our Earth, but there are a certain things that you must be familiar with before you commit yourself to using wind power as the source of energy for your home.

One of the basic requirement is wind…area where you live in must have wind speeds over 10 mph to get any considerable output from wind turbine. If the wind is not blowing at enough speed, there will be no energy produced. The high wind speed increases the production from wind turbine. More power you are able to generate from your wind turbine the less power you will require from the local utility, not only this if you are able to achieve extra output you can sell it to the local utility.

How much you will save: When you plan buying residential wind turbine you not only think that about its benefits to the environment but also how much you will save by using this alternate energy.

The exact amount of your saving by using the wind energy will depend upon the amount of electricity you use, the cost of electricity in your area, the price of wind turbine and the average wind speed at your site, money savings will actually vary from case to case.

But that is for sure that if you install DIY (Do It Yourself) wind turbines, which can easily be build in just a couple hundred dollars, the payoff of saving on energy costs from your local source will rapidly cover the cost of building the wind generator.

Some of important tips to follow to help you get your job done are: Before beginning a project make sure you have all you need to finish your work without any stoppage.

Having all the materials required makes it much easier then stopping in the middle of a job to go get an important part. Getting them all in the beginning will save a lot of time and will ease your job.

Invest in a high-quality instruction manual, as this would save you from many errors and save your precious time researching for what you need.

Plan before you start…do as much research as possible before you begin the project.

Knowing what you have to do before will always help you to do the things in easier and better way, saving you time and money both.

•There are several components which you will require to build a wind generator.

You will require materials to build the blades of the generator, materials for the blades to stand on and a battery bank to save and use the wind energy which is produced by the blades. Follow the guidelines of the manual properly. Be careful while giving the shape to blades as the shape of windmill blades highly influences their rotation.

The flat blades and the ones with both edges rounded give better performance.

•For material of Windmill Blades you can consider anything out of soft wood, fiberglass, epoxy resin, or carbon fiber.

The carbon fiber turbine blades are lighter in weight and have a razor sharp edge; this allows them to cut through the wind silently.

•While following all the steps carefully, you can join all the parts together. When that is done, it is now all set to be put up in the wind.

•Install it at a place where it can stand roughly at 15 feet above any structure. Wind is available everywhere and doesn’t cost any money. So after putting in the money on its installation, you can generate power stored by a wind turbine with almost nil pollution. With the improved efficiency of the common wind turbine you can curtail your power costs enormously.

Over the years wind energy is developed into a very resourceful way to generate electricity… wind energy systems have taken many shapes now.

Originally these systems were developed for bigger commercial use only but with time they have also been adapted for residential use. These smaller systems present homeowners a way to generate the power for their homes from wind and can definitely help them lower or even get rid of their monthly energy bill.

These smaller DIY wind power systems have improved significantly and have become more flexible to allow a homeowner to avoid the high initial cost of a system by starting small and growing their solution over time.

You can install a smaller starter system for your home that is comparatively inexpensive and will still permit you to enjoy the benefits of alternative energy immediately.

You can then expand this residential wind power system over the time as per your needs and budget. Once the initial wind power system has been tied into your home’s electrical system, all you have to do is to expand your system by installing the new wind turbines and connecting them to the existing system.